


Youth

by Sylvalum



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Gen, Sneaky river snails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 22:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15204707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylvalum/pseuds/Sylvalum
Summary: “Hey,” she turns, and Link’s crouched again, a gleaming pile of shells cradled in his lap, one hand in the water. “Happy birthday.”He pauses, and gives a stare. “It's not my birthday.”





	Youth

They stopped to let the horses rest, Epona and Storm now grazing peacefully in the shadow of a small copse of birch trees. Zelda, spying the alluring glimmer of water nearby, digs out her journal from her saddlebag (just to be sure, if she wants to take notes), and Link, after making sure their packs are secure and won’t roll away downhill or get snatched by birds, is quick to follow her. They’ve been stuck in meetings with Zora officials for three days, so being allowed to finally just _go home_ , vacation, _no_ meetings, not a single goddamn meeting, felt like seeing the light at last…

The glimmer of water turns out to be a wide but shallow riverbed, reeds swaying in the breeze, a couple of ducks flying up with loud squawks. Zelda gazes out over the waters, then promptly pulls off her boots and stuffs her socks into them, throwing them in the grass away from the water. Her journal she hands to Link, who makes an exasperated sound, because her bodyguard is endearing like that.

Zelda rolls up the legs of her pants, and starts walking out toward the water, to which Link makes more fond but irritated sounds.

She turns back to wave cheerfully, and then she sticks a foot into the water. _Shit_ it’s _cold_ – so obviously she determinedly thrusts her other foot in too, and cautiously starts to wade out. The sand is soft between her toes, the water still a shock of cold, and _oh look_ there’s fishes out here. Small ones, green and orange.

“There’s Hyrulean Bass out here!” She turns to shout at Link, who’s still holding her journal tight back on the shore. He makes a sloppy one-handed sign, _coming_ , and very gently puts her journal down. He strips of his cloak and bundles her book up, because Link knows what her research means to her. The world may have changed in a hundred years, but at least there’s still crickets and rocks to write about.

And Link. She’s got him – they’re two last people left of the champions, of the court. It’s just – them. The delightfully ill-fated Chosen ones.

( _it’s a lonely thing, to be adrift in time_ -)

Something’s glowing dimly by her feet. Zelda crouches down in the water and digs in the wet sand, triumphantly pulling out a shell. “Sneaky river snail,” she says, mostly to herself. She digs up two more, brushing them off in the water ‘til their shells shine with a faint green glow. Like pearls in the mud, except… edible.

There’s a whistle. Zelda turns to look, and Link’s standing in the water holding up a shell of his own. It’s softly pink, like a blush, which means it’s a- “Rosy sunrise snail.”

Link waves his hand like he’s saying _yeah, I knew that, how do you think I survived alone in the wilderness_ – he says, his voice always a surprise to Zelda, “’S good for cooking.”

“Really? We should try it. Snail dinner.” She leans down and comes up with a vibrantly white shell, holding it gingerly with water dripping down her arm. “This one is a Lethal white lake snail.” Link’s hands: _I know._ “They’re commonly found in lakes or other shallow bodies of water, and it’s the flesh that’s the poison. There’s – there _was_ – a jeweller who specialised in making jewellery from the shell…”

She looks at the little bit of gleaming white, held securely between her index finger and thumb. The shine of the shells is said to never dull, much like the sharpness of the sword strapped to Link’s hip. There’s a lot of things said about that sword, about him. About the Hyrulean royal bloodline.

Her mother used to have a necklace with tiny white shell pieces.

That. That would have to have been nearly 113 years ago.

“Hey,” she turns, and Link’s crouched again, a gleaming pile of shells cradled in his lap, one hand in the water. “Happy birthday.”

He pauses, and gives a stare. “Not my birthday.”

“I meant – the 100 and one birthdays we didn’t celebrate.” Explaining it just makes it sound worse, dumber.

Suddenly Link gets a very interesting expression. “Your birthday,” he begins, and Zelda waits while Link picks his words. “They made it. A holiday.”

“…They _what_? Am I supposed to be flattered? I’m not. Why would they…?” She thinks about it for a bit. “I’m a little flattered. Though it’s still inconvenient and stupid and a bit…” _weird_.

“Mipha’s too. And Revali’s.” His smile is wry like he knows _exactly_ how insufferably smug Revali would have been about that.

“Oh,” Zelda says very eloquently. She feels – that ever-present sadness, of course, but also, strangely, she feels proud. She feels honoured that other people are honouring her dead friends. She feels _touched_. “I’d like to-“ she makes a gesture, waves an arm. “We should go to a celebration like that. We should – are there celebrations?”

“Yes,” Link says, a single word.

She pictures it. Something grand for Mipha – everyone would be remembering their dear princess. A celebration befitting a royal. Something a bit more homemade for Revali – a feast, perhaps, or party games – dancing, maybe. Though Rito aren’t very big on dancing. She thinks, and yet cannot imagine how anyone would be… celebrating _her_. It’s a rather uncomfortable thought, really…

Them, alive a hundred years later. Their friends, long dead.

No duties, no… anything. Just…

-Link is back to picking snails. Zelda tries to hand a couple of Red salt snails to him, but he waves her away and says they taste like nothing and aren’t good for anything other than salting and drying. She splashes water at him. Link turns around, very slowly, and then he gets up and wades back to shore, carrying his hoard of snails. He dumps them next to her cloak-wrapped journal, and then he strips of his sheath and tunic, and heads back out into the water.

And then it’s war.

Link splashes up great arcs of water at her, and Zelda retaliates by trying to send a spray into his face. He takes several graceful steps backward before stumbling, letting out a yelp before disappearing down into the water, and Zelda starts laughing without meaning to-

Then there’s a leg, and the lost princess of Hyrule falls face-first into the river with a shriek of laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> i _am_ working on the next chapter to Short Time, i promise, i pinky-swear  
>  \--also thanks for reading! leave a comment, maybe?


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